Overview
Eurocastle Investment Limited is a Euro denominated Guernsey closed-end investment company that invests in and manages a diverse portfolio consisting primarily of German commercial real estate assets. Eurocastle is traded on the Euronext Amsterdam Exchange under the ticker symbol “ECT.”
Eurocastle is externally managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a premier investment and asset management firm. Fortress provides Eurocastle with an executive management team that has extensive experience across the key disciplines necessary to successfully execute Eurocastle's business model. Eurocastle also benefits from Fortress's investment and structuring expertise as well as its global infrastructure and consistent track record of delivering high returns to investors. In addition, Fortress has a significant equity investment in Eurocastle.
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Investment Approach
OVERVIEW
Eurocastle’s core business strategy is to invest primarily in German commercial real estate assets. The Company's objective is to deliver stable and growing dividends and attractive risk-adjusted returns for shareholders through prudent asset selection and the use of match-funded financing structures, which are intended to reduce interest rate, currency and refinancing risks. The Company seeks to deliver returns by optimising the difference between the yield on investments and the cost of financing these investments.
INVEST
Eurocastle generally has two distinct investment portfolios: Real Estate Investment Porfolio and a Debt Investment Portfolio, consisting of real estate securities and other asset backed securities, as well as real estate related loans.
Real Estate Investment Portfolio — Eurocastle directly acquires European real estate, which is leased to high credit quality tenants on a long-term basis to generate stable, attractive cash flows.
Debt Investment Portfolio — Eurocastle underwrites and acquires moderately credit sensitive asset backed securities, including commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), real estate related asset backed securities (ABS) and residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS). The Company generally seeks investments with a credit rating, determined by internationally recognised rating agencies, from A down to BB, with the goal of maintaining an average portfolio credit rating of BBB or higher. The Company acquires loans made at moderate leverage levels to well capitalised real estate operators that have established track records. These loans include real estate related B Notes, mezzanine loans, bank loans, and real estate loans.
MATCH FUND
Eurocastle attempts to reduce interim refinancing risk and to minimise exposure to interest rate fluctuations through the use of match-funded financing structures whereby the Company seeks (i) to match the maturities of its debt obligations with the maturities of its assets and (ii) to match the interest rates on its investments with like-kind debt (i.e., floating rate assets are financed with floating rate debt and fixed assets are financed with fixed rate debt) directly or through the use of interest rate swaps, caps or other financial instruments, or through a combination of these strategies. This allows the Company to minimise the risk of having to refinance its liabilities prior to the maturities of its assets and to reduce the impact of changing interest rates on the Company’s earnings.
MANAGE ASSETS
Underpinning the Company's investment activites is a disciplined approach to acquiring, financing and managing assets with moderate credit risk and sufficient liquidity. Eurocastle seeks to diversify its investments by asset type, industry, location, issuer and tenant in order to minimise the risk of capital loss and to enhance the terms of the Company’s financing structures. Eurocastle manages its credit exposure through this diversification and also through ongoing asset selection and surveillance.